Pages

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

MIX IN A JAR GIFT PACKAGES

I mentioned in one of my pre-holiday posts that we were making several of our gifts. Well, since the gifts have been given, I thought I'd share some pictures of what we did. I'm sort of known among my friends and family for the mix in a jar recipes. Most of the ones we use are our own recipes that we have tried out and made to use just for the jars. Here is the dessert jar we made, it's a jar of chocolate chip cookie bar mix...dump the jar in a bowl, mix with some wet ingredients and you end up with a giant chocolate chip cookie/brownie hybrid.

This one is our version of I guess what you could call something similar to hamburger helper. This one is actually a goulash mix. Just add hamburger, some tomatoes, water and this jar of mix and you've got a great meal ready to eat. The one with the bow tie pasta in it was a special request from a dear friend who loves it, it's a turkey pasta dish.

Once we got them done, we got them organized. These ten (we made sixteen total), represent dinner and a dessert and so that's how we packaged them.

Here they are with their labels on, and some other decorative elements, along with a small jar of sugar scrub that I made as well. Details on that one coming in a separate post. I put them on a cardboard circle, and then we filled them with paper shreds and wrapped them up with basket wrapping.

Finally, they are almost finished in this shot, just before we put a big red bow on each one. We ended up with eight gift "baskets" like this to give out. I believe everyone we gave them to enjoyed them. They were certainly made with lots of care and love, and really, that's what it's really all about, right?

They are a great way to keep your own food too. Sort of like boxes of "helper" type mixes or "brownie" mixes only this way you KNOW what's in them, ha. I would like to stock our pantry at the farm with a bunch just to have meals ready. I'll post more on them later.

gorgeous 1st Man - just absolutely gorgeous. and yes...i am stealing these ideas to give as gifts from now on. thanks for sharing - teehee! they really are gorgeous!

( i do epsom salts in jars with layers of flowers from the Manor - roses, st. john's wort, red and white clover, etc....and they are always well received. i am sure that your baskets of jars full of goodies are very, very well received!)

Thank you! Give away, they are great gifts and always very well received. I LOVE the idea of epsom salts and flowers from your place. That's 100% an idea I'll steal back. And can you put me on the list for next time? Ha.

I've given & received different recipies. I really like how you give the meal & the dessert together. The best thing about getting them as a gift is that I put it in the pantry and soon forget about it (not for any lack of appreciation, just out of sight, out of mind sort of thing). A month or so later I will be starving or have a sweet tooth emergency and then be sad because I did not buy anything at the store. But then I remember that fantastic meal in a jar I got for Christmas and I am thrilled about the gift all over again. It is like getting a present twice. I have had a couple of people actually return the jar to me and when I tell them that they could have put it in their recycling I get dead silence because they are returning the jar to me so I can fill it up for them another time. I have a lot of single friends who have low level cooking skills. They feel so good that they could follow the three step directions and actually end up with a dish that tastes good. The jar mixes started as a trend back in the 1970s. There are lots of recipie books out there & also on the internet. I agree that it is important to taste test them before giving as well as making sure the directions are correct.I would love it if you might share the pasta hamburger recipie sometime.

will definitely share! Stay tuned! Yes, that happened to us too. We had one extra last year that for some reason didn't get 'gifted' and then we discovered it a few months later. It was a wonderful and well needed treat at that moment, ha.

We do have some friends that have returned the jars, a not so subtle hint, LOL.

Definitely test them, lots of recipes out there like you said. I never thought about single friends with limited cooking skills these would be a great solution huh? Smart!

Please leave us a comment! I have some comment moderation on and of course will approve your comment relatively quickly. We love feedback and hearing what others have to share with us all. Please know that I can't always reply to it right away, but ALL comments are read. I will reply just as soon as I can so be sure to come back and see my reply.

SHOP AMAZON

CLICK IMAGE TO SEND AN EMAIL

NEXT GIVEAWAY COMING SOON!

About Me

Born in the city, raised in the city, work in the city, but long to live in the country...so, we bought an old farmhouse on acreage in the country, and now the journey begins. This blog will share that journey, as we hope to become more self sufficient and eventually move away from the hustle and bustle of the fast paced life we've led. Along the way, we'll share ideas, photos, plans, recipes, crafts, and hopefully get a lot from you all as well. Welcome to the great state of Texas and our farm, Seda Bolsa Farm!

BLOG STATS

WE WELCOME THE WORLD

Feedjit

IN HER MEMORY, WE ARE ALWAYS...

Click Image for Details

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

ABOUT PHOTOS PLEASE NOTE:

Unless otherwise labeled as our own, or linked to the original source, all photos on this blog are randomly sourced from the Internet. If you know where a photo belongs, please let me know and I will give credit and of course link to it or I will promptly remove it if requested.

All photos and text on this blog are copyright protected. If you would like to feature something posted here, you may do so if you include a link back to the original post. If you do use something, please send an email with a link to any post that features my work. My email address is: houstonray AT gmail DOT com.